With the Budget on 28 October 2026, we wanted to set out what the current stamp duty rules mean for first-time buyers in our office areas: Bexleyheath, Dartford and Orpington. On 1 April 2025, the price at which first-time buyers start paying stamp duty fell from £425,000 to £300,000, and the Budget is the next point at which the government could change it.
We looked at 2,313 homes sold across the three towns in the year to August 2026. Under the old rules, 47.6% would have been stamp duty free for a first-time buyer. Under the current rules, it would be 17.5%.
Martin Dewar, Director and Head of Conveyancing at T G Baynes, said:
“With the Budget coming up, we wanted to show what the current rules mean for first-time buyers in our local areas. The April 2025 change didn’t make headlines for long, but it’s had a lasting effect. The question buyers ask us now is no longer whether they’ll pay stamp duty, but how much.”
What changed in April 2025
Stamp duty is a tax on buying property in England and Northern Ireland. First-time buyers may be able to claim relief, which reduces the stamp duty they pay on homes up to a set price. On 1 April 2025, both the tax-free threshold and the price limit came down.
| First-time buyer relief | Before 1 April 2025 | From 1 April 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| No stamp duty on the first
| £425,000 | £300,000 |
| 5% on the portion from | £425,001 to £625,000 | £300,001 to £500,000 |
| No relief on homes priced above | £625,000 | £500,000 |
If the price is above the limit, a first-time buyer pays the standard rates on the whole price. GOV.UK sets out the current stamp duty rates and the rates that applied before 1 April 2025.
What we found
We compared the same homes sold under the old and new rules. Percentages show the share of homes sold that would be stamp duty free for a first-time buyer. Stamp duty figures are for a first-time buyer buying a home at the median price.
| Town | Homes sold | Stamp duty free: old rules | Stamp duty free: now | Median price | Stamp duty: old rules | Stamp duty: now | Extra stamp duty |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bexleyheath | 451
| 40.6%
| 15.3%
| £460,000 | £1,750 | £8,000 | £6,250 |
| Dartford | 927 | 69.8% | 26.8% | £375,000 | £0 | £3,750 | £3,750 |
| Orpington | 935 | 29.0% | 9.3% | £530,000 | £5,250 | £16,500 | £11,250 |
| All three towns | 2,313 | 47.6% | 17.5% | £435,000 | £500 | £6,750 | £6,250 |
- Across the three towns, a first-time buyer buying a median-priced home (£435,000) now pays £6,750 in stamp duty, compared with £500 under the old rules.
- For any home priced from £425,000 to £500,000, a first-time buyer now pays exactly £6,250 more.
- In Orpington, the median price (£530,000) is above the new £500,000 limit, so a first-time buyer buying a median-priced home there can no longer claim relief.
Martin said:
“The change has landed very differently across the three towns. In Dartford, around seven in ten homes sold would have been stamp duty free for a first-time buyer under the old rules. Now it's closer to one in four, although most homes sold there are still within the price limit for relief.
“Orpington is where it hits hardest, and the figure that catches people out is the £500,000 limit. Up to that price, a first-time buyer gets relief. Go £1 over, and they lose it completely and pay standard rates on the full price. That single pound adds around £5,000 to the bill, so it's worth knowing exactly where your price sits before you agree it.”
Results by postcode district
Prices vary within each town, so we also broke the results down by postcode district to show how the change plays out in different parts of each town. In Orpington, for example, the median price in BR6 (£575,000) is well above the £500,000 limit for first-time buyer relief, while in BR5 (£460,000) it’s within it. The figures only include sales within the post towns of Bexleyheath, Dartford and Orpington.
| District | Homes sold | Stamp duty free: old rules | Stamp duty free: now | Median price | Stamp duty: old rules | Stamp duty: now | Extra stamp duty |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BR5 (Orpington) | 409 | 40.3% | 10.8% | £460,000 | £1,750 | £8,000 | £6,250 |
| BR6 (Orpington) | 526 | 20.2% | 8.2% | £575,000 | £7,500 | £18,750 | £11,250 |
| DA1 (Dartford) | 575 | 73.7% | 30.6% | £365,000 | £0 | £3,250 | £3,250 |
| DA2 (Dartford) | 233 | 61.8% | 16.7% | £395,000 | £4,750 | £4,750 | |
| DA4 (Dartford) | 119 | 66.4% | 27.7% | £390,000 | £0 | £4,500 | £4,500 |
| DA6 (Bexleyheath) | 116 | 53.4% | 26.7% | £415,500 | £0 | £5,775 | £5,775 |
| DA7 (Bexleyheath) | 335 | 36.1% | 11.3% | £465,000 | £2,000 | £8,250 | £6,250 |
What's at stake in the Budget
The Budget is on Wednesday 28 October 2026. It's the next point at which the government could change stamp duty thresholds.
If the old £425,000 threshold returned, a first-time buyer buying a median-priced home across the three towns would save £6,250 compared with the current rules.
Martin added:
“As for the Budget, I wouldn't advise anyone to delay a purchase on the strength of speculation. If the rules do change, what usually matters for stamp duty is the date your purchase completes, not when your offer was accepted, and any change may come with its own transitional rules. The safest approach is to budget for the rules as they stand today and take advice as soon as your offer is accepted.”
How we carried out the research
We used HM Land Registry Price Paid Data for standard residential sales in the post towns of Bexleyheath, Dartford and Orpington in the year to August 2026. This gave us 2,315 sales. Two of these were duplicate records of the same sale, so we removed them, leaving 2,313.
We tested each sale against the first-time buyer rules before and after 1 April 2025. Because the same sales were used for both, the difference reflects the change in the rules, not changes in house prices.
The data doesn't show whether a buyer was a first-time buyer. The figures show what a first-time buyer would pay for the homes sold locally, not what first-time buyers actually paid. The median is the middle price, with half of the homes sold costing more and half costing less.
Sales can take a few months to be registered, so figures for the most recent months may rise slightly as more sales are added. Stamp duty rates were checked on GOV.UK on 13 October 2026.
Speak to our conveyancing team
If you're buying your first home, our conveyancing solicitors can explain how stamp duty applies to your purchase and what to expect at each stage. You can also get a conveyancing quote online.
Call our Bexleyheath office on 020 8301 7777, our Dartford office on 01322 295555 or our Orpington office on 01689 886000. You can also email info@tgbaynes.com or make an enquiry online.
Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2021. This data is licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.